EverRude

I managed to get it swapped mechanically except for reinstalling the driveshaft (low priority) and mounting the AFM correctly (requires fenderwell mod). It now cranks over, fuel is delivered (fuel pump temporarily set to run in "ON"), and just yesterday I managed to get spark. Now it's just a matter of firing the injectors. Then wire up the internally regulated altenator. Progress is being made but I got frustrated and convinced I couldn't get it running without spending anymore money I didn't have. Decided to cut my losses and sell it. Posted in for sale section. However I am getting closer to getting it to run. If so it'll come off the market or the price will go up.

For Sale

I'm giving up but I'm not. Listed it for sale here on the boards and my local craigslist. I'll still keep working on it but if someone offers to bail me out for the cash I have in it i'll take it. I just refuse to spend any more money on it till it runs. However I manage it.

Well I did get the car to crank without smoking wires. Turns out there was a ground to the main harness I hadn't connected when I swapped the motor. The old wire was Red and I didn't realize it was a ground until I traced the pinouts at the ECU connector. I get spark but only when I run a hot from the battery to the + post on the coil. Means the coil and distrubutor are fine. There's 12v to the ignitor with the switch in "on" so it could be the ignitor isn't properly grounded or it's bad. Injectors aren't firing. So even if I manage to get spark properly I still have to sort out the injectors. It's really too much for me. Too many thinks it could be and my troubleshooting skills are far too haphazard and impatient to make it work. If I ever manage to get it to run it'll be pure luck. I tried. I'm not upset that I failed to make this work. In fact I'm proud I swapped the motor all by myself. I usually have help for that stuff. As long as I have the car I'll keep playing with it but I won't spend any money. I've listed it for sale but maybe I'll get it running before that happens. I appreciate everyone's support. I feel like I let you down more than myself. Sorry.

Found the problem. It was that wire with the bladed connector at the neg batt post. The reason I couldn't figure it out was because the wire on the old harness was red. I didn't remember a red wire going to the neg batt post. I would think that would kinda be noticeable. Anyways a friend and I ran continuity on the bladed red wire on the old harness. It was ground to every nearly every pin on the ecu connector. So we used that wire and spliced it into the main ground harness in the bundle of wires that runs down tha passenger fender well below the battery. Worked like a charm. Motor cranks normally and no smoking wires. Hoorah. Also figured out my fuel pump wiring. Now I can troubleshoot the rest of the EFI harness using the manual. Progress. Yay!

There's one thing I noticed after the swap that could be related to my problem. There was a wire connected to the negative battery post via a blade connector that's not currently hooked up. I can't find that wire. Is it stock and does anyone know where it connected to? Here's a pic.

That's how it is. Remember I disconnect the main harness from the battery and the car cranks fine when I jumper the solenoid. If I hook up the main harness (large white wire with red stripe) jumping the solenoid does nothing. It's like all that cranking power is attempting to go somewhere else but only when cranking. Nothing is smoking with the key in the "on" position. If I replace that ground at the ignition harness plug I'm sure it would begin turning over slowly again and burn out that ground again. Something in the starting circuit is shorted. But I have no idea what.

I thought so too. The first thing I did when I got the car was swap the battery cables (this was about 2 days before the motor swap and eveything cranked fine after I changed the wires). That wire to the starter is new. But when I encountered this problem the first thing I did was disconnect it and clean everything. I even added a second 1 guage ground from the block to the firewall. There was already one there at the battery side. I added this one closer toward the driver's side. It really seemed that all the cranking amps are trying pass through that 14 guage ground wire under the dash. In fact, if that ground wire isn't hooked up the starter won't spin when the main harness was connected to the battery. The car cranks fine with the battery powering only the starter.

I'll check this out. Because whatever I did it happened after I swapped coils and messed with the wiring to the bracket. I can't test anything "at a run" because this car isn't close to running at all.

I am attempting to swap a L28ET from an 81 280ZX to my 75 280Z. Not going well. I won't attempt to explain everything because it's too much. My first priority is to get the car to crank. As in, starter spin the motor from the ignition switch. However I am burning ground wires at my Ignition system plug. Pics are below and hopefully you'll understand. You can certainly see the ground wire that burned completely into. At first I just got a slow crank and I noticed the smoking hot ground. This ONLY happens while cranking. Not with the key in the ON position. Now the day before the car cranked fine. But I hadn't swapped over the turbo coil/ignitor. I had to completely remove the coil bracket to make the swap. I didn't know how much of the original wiring I needed so I just swapped the coil and ignitor onto the original bracket with the original wiring. Only the ignitor was actually added. I made sure the coil bracket was grounding but I could remove it all again and clean off all paint to be sure there's good contact. I managed to comletely burn through the ground wire when I attempted to troubleshoot the slow cranking by jumping the +post to the solenoid. I had the start sensing wire disconnected. Only the ground at the starter mount bolt and the main +wire from battery were hooked up. However there was the main W/R wire tied to the +post on the battery so that's how the rest of the car got power. It cranked a little faster then slowed again. That's when I smelled the smoke. BTW I disconnected the rest of the harness from the battery and ONLY powered the starter. Motor spins fine when jumping the solenoid. So as you can see I am totally screwing this up. The schematics don't do me any good. I look at the 81 and 75 stuff and wires colors don't always match what either says. Which just leaves me futher confused and frustrated. Anyways here's the pics of my coil as it's currently set up and a pic of the ignition plug with the toasted ground. I'd appreciate any help.

Sigh... I'm still trying. Still frying wires too. Going to try to take it one step at a time. First get it cranking. Right now it attempts to crank and grounds start smoking. Posting a question in the electrical section about it. Then I'll try to get fuel working. And finally spark. First the cranking tho and wiring repairs to the fried ground wires.

I have a 1975 280Z that I've installed a 1981 L28ET motor, stock turbo, harness, AFR, ECU...etc into. I can't get it to work. The EFI harness to body harness wiring is frying my brain when it isn't frying itself (it was just a ground wire... ). I'm most likely going to just sell and look for a carb'd 240 in simular condition. I wanted a 240Z for the simple old school car it is. EFI is too much hassle for me. I really bit off more than I could handle. But I was impatient and bought the first S30 I found in my price range. Anyways the point of my thread is too ask.... The car has a few dents and some rust. The framerails, rockers, quarters, and cowl are all solid. Even the doglegs and lower fenders. But there is some significant rust in the passenger floor, rear hatch ledge, spare tire well, and lower door skins. A few other small areas including a rust hole in the top of the passenger fender. I have the tools and skills to do the body and mechanicals. It's the friggin wiring that kills me. Let's say I was asking $800 for the car as it sits. Assembled but not running (wiring) with the rust and dents. If I repaired the rusty doors could I then ask $1000 and be reasonable? Or say the doors and floor and go to $1200? What is a solid body worth if I did it all? Or would I just be throwing my time and money away? Oppinions please. Also please keep in mind the numbers I threw out are just examples. Thanks

The smoking wire was a ground when trying to turn it over. Not a real issue but certainly shows I have it all wrong. I'm going to clean it up and reassemble everything not put together (driveshaft, hood...etc) and sell it. Hopefully I'll get most of my money back. Expect to see it in the For Sale section in a few days. 1975 280z L28ET 5 speed (not T5). Does not run. Needs wiring. Solid Frame rails, quarters and rockers, but rusty fenders, spare tire well, rear hatch ledge, and passenger floor. New clutch and slave cylinder. Clean title. Lesson learned, stay away from EFI. This is a real heartbreaker. S30 is a dreamcar for me and I failed to make it work. Thanks for your support guys. I'm sure I'll be back if and when I find a 240.

No progress. Unless you count smoking wires. I'm gonna start looking for a 240z tommorrow.

Earlier I posted a pic of the EFI relay calling it the fuel pump relay. Here's a pic of the fuel relay from the ZX. Not sure at all how to tie this into the system. Without it though I have no fuel pump.

I've got a bunch of parts I would love to sell to finance my Z car. But I've always been hesitant to sell things I'd have to ship. Seems like a lot of hassle and like it would force me to keep the price low to get the items sold. And the lower the price the more likely it's simply not cost effective. Examples are the 3 piece spoiler my 81 ZX parts car has. Kinda cool and certainly worth something to someone but is it worth the hassle of trying to box it. Or the Gold 14" Enkei 92's my 75 Z had. No center caps so I wouldn't be asking alot but I'd have to get the slightly dryrotted tires off and then box up 4 wheels. Not sure I could make enough to warrant the effort. Then the numerous parts I have from the ZX or even my 70 Mustang parts car. I know I have a chunk of money in items sitting on shelves or scattered around the garage that I cannot use or probably won't use anytime soon. But shipping seems like such a pain. Is it? I'd really like to have some extra money for the Z. Oppinions? Advice?

Since I am running headfirst into this wiring issue at the moment I took some pics. I'm using Bumble Zee's thread and some of it matches what zdrift has posted assuming I can read it correctly. But if zdrift is correct his way seems simpler. If only it was understandable. Maybe a hybrid of my pics and comments with zdrift's and Bumble Zee's post will make more sence. Starting at the coil ignitor. Here's the yellow/white wire that runs uncut to the ignition harness to FI harness connector. The black/white wire I ran with it through the dashboard. The wire with bullet connector under my thumb isn't doing anything yet but it's for the tach signal. Here is the ignition harness to FI harness connector. You can see the yellow/white wire going forward to the ignitor. Only 3 of the wires here are used. The yellow/white goes to the coil ignitor obviously. The yellow/green is going to ground and the solid yellow is going to switched power. I tied the black/white wire (mentioned in previous picture) from the coil ignitor and the solid yellow together and before hooking them to switched power. Here are the brown and green wires. Both of these are hooked to the +batt post as of now. Bumble Zee mentions hooking them to the +post on the starter solenoid. I felt my way was fine for the troubleshooting. I should mention they are supposed to be run through fusible links. Currently they are not. This is the fuel relay connector with the fuel relay plugged into it. Should I mount it for ground? This is the confusing part. This is the 5 wire connector below the fuel relay connector. The 2 wires both Bumble Zee and zdrift mention are the black/white and blue/red wires. Bumble Zee goes one step further and says the green wire requires constant 12v power. As of now I have the green connected the the +batt post and the black/white and blue/red wires connected to switched power together. My fuel pump isn't priming when I switch to "On" so I assume I'm hooked up wrong. The pump primed fine before the swap. I'm going to quote both bumble zee and zdrift about these wires. Maybe you guys can help clarify what either one is talking about. Zdrift says... Zdrift says... Bumble Zee says... Bumble Zee's discription the black/white wire getting power from the relay side not the harness side makes no sence to me. The wires terminate at the relay. I'm sure 99% of people reading that get it but I unfortunately don't. Also Bumble Zee talks about the blue/red wire being switched power for the pump. Does that mean it's a special source of switched power? Or does any switched power work and he's just mentioning what the wire is for? Again... whoosh... right over my head. I'll take pics to include my sources of switched power and how I routed my wires once this is sorted out and I have a running car. I should mention my car is a 75 280z and my L28ET, harness, and ECU are from an 81 280ZX.

I appreciate the advice and support Daeron. I'm going to make myself overcome this challenge. Mounting the AFR is going to be a pain. Especially with the engine installed. I'll get it figured out though. I like fabricating custom stuff so atleast that part will be fun. Unfortunately it's not going to be as simple as welding up a a new bracket. It means cutting my radiator support and wheelwell. Still that stuff is fun. Then I'll get back to the wiring crap I hate.

Ok. I'll keep trying. Atleast I managed to get it cranking again. I had disconnected part of the Z harness and hadn't pluged it in yet. I'm sure most of the rest of my problems are simple overlooked items. Aside from the ECU and AFR mounting mods. I'll keep working but I'm still far less than happy about my progress. I appreciate you guys encouraging me to keep at it. Still wish it was a carb'd motor tho.

I could try. But I never unplugged anything from the turbo harness that was attached to the motor. Seemed to me to be easier leaving as much as possible plugged in. That way anything disconnected was the only things I would need to sort out.

I have a 1970 Mustang fastback in the middle of restoration with over $4k worth of new parts on shelves ready to be bolted up. I've always wanted and S30 Z and it seemed like a good opportunity to get into a car could be driveable in a short time and wouldn't distract from the stang restoration too much. I got no problem working out kinks in mechanical parts. And I knew all Z's have wiring issues. Definitley ones pulled from fields. But atleast with a carb'd motor I could drive it as I sorta out where the shorts and bad grounds were... I wish I hadn't found that swap thread. I never would have decided to do this. I would stuck with my original idea of a longblock swap and just driven the thing with low compression for awhile. I made the mistake of thinking I knew what I was reading. Clearly not. I screwed up. Now I've modded my exhaust for the turbo swap. A few brackets under the hood and a little wiring all for this turbo motor swap and I can't go back as easily.

Everything mechanical is done. If this was a carb'd motor I'd be driving it right now. I wanted a carb'd 240 now I remember why. This wiring is a royal pain. I have no clue. The swap thread I was using didn't bother to mention that the ECU wouldn't mount to the Z frame and need custom work. Or that the AFR wouldn't bolt up to the old bracket and require mods. Mods far easier to do with the engine out. It's my own fault, I should have test fit that stuff. But that crap on top of the fact I simply cannot grasp what I really need to do to get the harness hooked up. It's a brain killer and extremely frustrating. Anyone wanna trade a carb'd motor for my complete L28ET, ECU, harness and AFR? I got in over my head. One consolidation. I can get half my money back from the scrap yard and chalk the rest up to "stupid tax."

I'm swapping an 81 Turbo motor into a 75 280z. Mechanically I have everything done. I have been writing up most of my progress here. Now for the part I've been dreading. Wiring. Using Bumble Zee's swap thread is alot of help getting an idea of what I need to do. Especially the fact he's swapping an 81 harness as well. However his thread makes it look deceptively easy to me. Part of the reason I choose to do the swap was it looked easy...on paper. Once I get to looking at all those wires I get brain freeze. The basic connections are easy. Those are all done. The problem I have, aside from the fact I get lost trying to understand schematics, is finding where to hook up the wires he says to cut and splice. Where's is a good sourse of switched power in the engine bay? Constant power I assume I can get right off the battery. And the fuel pump relay that is only on while cranking, running and 5 seconds of "on." How do I wire that? I assume the relay does it and just needs switched power. But his thread doesn't say that. It reads as though I have to find the right wire. The 280 relays are under the dash. The 81 ZX relay is beside the battery. I have the ZX's relay but what do I do with the relay's under the dash? The ignition wiring from the coil ignitor to the EFI section. He says not to cut the yellow wire but feel free to cut the rest leaving room to work with. But looking at his pics it seems he's using most of the wiring on the coil to ignition connector line. He says what to do and draws a understandable pics of what to wire. But again. Under the dash what's a good sourse of switched power or constant power? The fusible link wires he shows and says to hook to the +post on the starter. Do I need the fusible link or just hook them straight to the starter? I'd rather drill out header bolts than splice wiring... Please help. I'm so close to being finished.

Motor and transmission are in. I had trouble lining up the passenger mount. Had to remove the mount assembly from the block then lower the motor into place and install the mount. It dropped right in. I was doing the install by myself. I sure with help I could have gotten the mount to line up as the motor was lowered without having to remove it. Installed and bled the new slave cylinder lastnight as well as the brake master. I had to remove the booster for cleaning and painting. I should have eveything mechanical hooked up tonight..radiator, exhaust, driveshaft, intake and breather.... The oil cooler is the only tricky part since that requires some custom fitting and brackets. Once that's done it's all electrical. If I do well I could have a running and driving Turbo 280Z tommorrow. I'll be honest though. I'm not holding my breath. I expect problems. I hope I'm wrong though. Later

I didn't think about the fact I could remove the differential and still keep the rear end intact. I may just do that. Thanks guys.